As reported by USA Today, commonly prescribed inhalers used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, have been linked to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and heart disease. According to a study, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, patients treated with the drugs tiotropium or ipratropium were statistically more likely to develop cardiovascular disease or suffer cardiovascular death when compared to patients not treated with tiotropium or ipratropium. Tiotropium or ipratropium can be found in brand name drugs Spiriva, Atrovent and Combivent. These illnesses are normally caused by cigarette smoking.
For example, Boehringer Ingelheim, a German company that markets Spiriva with Pfizer, says worldwide sales rose 35% in 2007. Boehringer also makes Combivent, and Pfizer makes Atrovent. 1.8% of patients given tiotropium or ipratropium died of cardiovascular disease or had a non-fatal heart attack or stroke, compared with 1.2% of patients on other drugs, a statistically significant difference. USA reports that for every 40 people who got one of the drugs in a year, there was one extra death.
We will be following this development.
